Piyadasa Nisshanka: The Brightest Beacon Of Inspiration For Translating Sanskrit Classics Into Sinhala

Piyadasa Nisshanka

By Rohana Seneviratne –FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Prof. Rohana Seneviratne

(In commemoration of the 25th death anniversary of a translator extraordinaire)

When the source language is not his first language, a staunch translator usually weighs his selection of words, diction, and register in the target language against that by the original author. If he is well versed in the source language, possibly his mother tongue, but not-so-finely in the target language, he encounters the same issue and straddles the fence at least for some time until satisfaction dawns. And when it comes to classics, translating a piece of time-honoured wisdom into a readable work in any modern language requires the translator to be armed in a set of specific paraphernalia and clad in a perdurable defensive armour in addition to sufficient expertise in both his source and target languages. This is because he is highly likely to be exposed to some painful encounters in the form of missing context, literary obsolescence, multilayered paronomasia and so on during his time-travel through the labyrinth of text. He will require numerous tools to delve into the source text. Similarly, criticism in all possible forms awaits a translation because a classical text may well have been already edited and translated several times and stand well-known to at least a limited readership.

What do all these indicate? A translator remains doubtful throughout his textual expedition before cherry-picking what he determines makes the highest justice to the source and presenting his audience with an acceptable literary replica of the original. For the Sanskrit classics translated into Sinhala during the last few decades, we, however, witnessed an “undoubting” translator as his last name connoted, the harvest of whose efforts stands tall and stout before us, causing some others’ translations of his source texts to droop and wither. He is Piyadasa Nisshanka, the brightest beacon of inspiration for our translating Sanskrit classics into Sinhala.

General Background

Until his demise in 1996 concluding a long journey of 73 years, Piyadasa Nisshanka untiredly and assuredly worked on translating into Sinhala an impressive array of finest Sanskrit classics. Being trained in oriental languages and literature under the guidance of Ven. Dhammaratana at the Dangalla Rajamaha Vihara and at then the Nittambuwa Teacher Training College (now Sariputta National College of Education, Nittambuwa), he began his career as a school teacher at the Mahanama College, Walana, in 1946 and transferred himself to several schools before his unduly forced retirement in 1978. His unquenched thirst for knowledge encouraged him to enter the University of Peradeniya in 1953, where he followed the Vidya-visharada Diploma in Sinhala, Tamil, and Sanskrit, a significant turning point that kindled the initial sparks of his illustrious literary career. Nisshanka’s career as a scholar at Peradeniya received enrichment under the supervision and companionship of Ediriweera Sarachchandra (1914-1996) and D. E. Hettiarachchi (1909-1989).

Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra | Photo credit sarachchandra.org

As Sarachchandra has reminisced, Nisshanka’s debut in translating Sanskrit classics into Sinhala initiated with the Sanskrit play “Svapnavasavadatta” translated at his request. Pleasantly surprised by the superstandard translation and his enthusiasm for fathoming of the unlimited wealth of Sanskrit, Sarachchandra invited him to publish it as the inaugural issue of the series titled “Vishva Natya Pustakamala” under his editorship and motivated him to continue working on rendering more masterpieces of Sanskrit theatre into Sinhala. Nisshanka’s inspiration for delving into the vivid realm of Sanskrit plays was, therefore, Sarachchandra whose prestige as a leading figure among Sinhala literati in that era, and also a critic, playwright, and producer may have had a lasting impact on writers with refreshed hopes of nationalism. His association with intellectuals like D.E. Hettiarachchi, Sucharitha Gamlath (1934-2013), Bandula Jayawardhana (1926-2003), and Siri Gunasinghe (1925-2017) kindled his interests in numerous aspects of scholarship and sharpened his perspectives. As Sucharita Gamlath portrays in his “Guru Guna Samara” (1997), the cordial symposia Sarachchandra used to have in most weekends in the early 1960s were attended by many genial literature-lovers also from outside of Peradeniya such as Gunadasa Amarasekara (b. 1929), Madawala S. Rathnayake (1929-1997), and Premasinghe Welikala. Nisshanka was also among them. 

I would like to highlight, though concisely, a few aspects of Nisshanka’s mastery of translating Sanskrit classics into Sinhala, which we may revisit to educate ourselves and enrich our efforts along similar avenues. Topics like the necessity of any Sinhala translation of Sanskrit classics and that of Sanskrit itself here in the contemporary cultural setting of Sri Lanka are not addressed here, simply to leave them for an extensive discussion at a later time. Let me first situate our translator in the historical context where his works can be recognized as easily surpassing others’ in the equivalent genres. 

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